Fla. premiums to rise, but with something in return

Dr. Rebecca Hunton consults with patient Nicole Oliveira at her office in Melbourne.

Sure enough, working people in Florida will pay more for private health insurance next year than they would without the "affordable" care act, new data show.

But for the first time I can remember, we'll also get more for our money - more care, less risk of ruin, better protection for our kids - not more of the same for a shrinking paycheck.

It won't come cheap.

I see good lessons in the tradeoff for political liberals and conservatives alike.

How much more?

Expect to pay an additional 10-30 percent in premiums in Florida next year, based on state, federal and industry projections I reviewed this past week.

As an employee of a large company, I expect a hike of as much as 10 percent due to Obamacare, beyond the 3 percent rise in health care costs projected otherwise. The smaller the employer, the bigger the increase as the buyer's risk pool and purchasing power shrink.

Sole proprietors and part-time workers who must buy "individual" policies will pay 20-35 percent more per month than they would for the same coverage today, depending on their choice of companies, say reports by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the Society of Actuaries.

In Brevard, six companies will sell individual coverage through an exchange for $275 per month to $464 per month, initially. Competition should drive costs closer to that $275, a study for the Department of Health and Human Services suggests.

Still, for a working-poor single parent who has skipped insurance to afford child care or car repairs, the new cost could feel massive even with a federal subsidy.

What more do we get for the cost?

For starters, we all get "free" preventative care and guaranteed mental-health and maternity coverage. Kids get vision and dental and can stay on our plans through grad school. Women get lower rates.

Insurers must enroll people with "pre-existing conditions." (Got a prescription? That's you.) They can't drop you anymore if you get cancer or need a transplant and hit a "lifetime limit."

Long term, working families will lose far less to health emergencies.

Lesson for left

In the short term, Democrats may be shocked to learn that expensive health care doesn't come free.

I hope they realize employers aren't lying when they say the costs pose a huge challenge. Three entrepreneurs I interviewed last fall said their share of premiums had already had risen 30-40 percent as coverage mandates started.

This week, however, my Democratic friends were heralding a report by HHS that shows actual prices for individual plans will drop an average of 18 percent in 11 states ready to launch exchanges.

A closer look at that report shows the average premium in three large states - California, New York and Ohio - will drop to the same price range to which Florida premiums will rise. Insurance in those states probably was overpriced to begin with.

In 2010, Democrats attacked and discredited reports by health-insurance companies that warned premiums could rise by 20 percent for about 80 percent of American workers. I was tipped off to one by a news story in which then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel declared the companies liars and left it at that. The news media moved on.

Next time, Dems should listen better to actuaries and executives who will set the prices and pay the costs.

Lesson for right

Meanwhile, none of the tort reform, mergers, medical innovation or privately rationed care in Florida's health industry has trickled-down to working people in the form of lower premiums or significantly better care.

Insurance and hospital companies saved. Not us.

With Obamacare, weget something.

Republicans should look hard at the benefits it delivers immediately to households. The GOP alternative called for some of the same benefits, but took the same supply-side, cross-your-fingers approach the Florida Legislature took to auto, homeowner and malpractice insurance reforms. With those, consumers sacrificed rights and lost coverage but kept paying more. Our promised reward: a "healthier market."

But how much can a market grow if consumers' take-home pay keeps dropping and they get nothing useful in return?